William Optics FLT-110 - Cloudy Nights

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Copyright 2005 CloudyNights.comrings I use on my FS102NSV and are a bit more expensive too, but hey), and their top ofthe line quartz diagonal. Finally WO sent an extension tube and .8x reducer/fieldflattener with their big box o’ goodies.Now, I’ve seen, owned and used a fairamount of telescopes of all brands, and Ithought I was somewhat immune – butfrankly, my heart beat a little faster as Iopened the box.Having seen several William Opticstelescopes I was ready for first ratemechanics and a gorgeous presentation. Yet,even so, my first peek took my breath away.WO’s telescopes are gorgeous – and this istheir flagship. Befittingly, it’s a step above.As compared to any other scope I’ve hadopportunity to use – well, the fit and finish isas good as anything I’ve seen.William Yang shot high when he built thisone – and it shows. Opening the shippingcontainer, I was shocked to see just small theincluded case is – a mere 28 x 8.9 x 9.1inches I must confess I was expectingsomething more in line with my TV102 orFS102 case. This is significantly shorter and more compact – ergo, much easier to travelwith. It’s only down side is that there is no room for either diagonal or eyepieces.Opening the case, your senses are assaulted with one impressive telescope. The OTA is awhite crinkle finish with black anodizing and gold trim – very similar to that found on theMegrez line of telescopes. The white powder coat is both durable and easy to clean.The giant 4” focuser is anodized black, and impressive as all get out. The sheer size ofthe focuser makes you forget this isn’t an 80mm scope – at least until you pick it up andget it out of the case. I rather expected it to be a beast, weight wise, but surprisingly itturned out to be rather light. At 13.5 lbs, it’s only a little heavier than my other, smaller,4” apos. Mount wise, it tended to ride easier than either the Tak or the TV – undoubtedlydue to its shorter body. The focal length is 715mm, making it an f6.5, and the lens is a110mm oil spaced triplet manufactured for WO by TEC.Sliding out the dew shield, we’re treated to a first. It literally pops into place. Someinvestigation (and a letter from William) reveals that WO has used recessed spring loadedball bearings to lock the dew shield. You never have to worry about it sagging or slidingdown when the felt gets crushed. If anyone has ever done this before, please let meknow, as I’m completely unaware of it on any other telescope. The lens cap is an allmetal press fit style with the WO logo emblazoned on the front, similar to what’s foundon their other offerings.2
Copyright 2005 CloudyNights.comThe focuser also looks like their standardfocuser – but all grown up. The knobs are ahefty 1.8” in diameter, and they are a joy to use.The tension is adjusted by the use of an allenscrew located on the bottom of the focuser.That said, the default factory tension was justabout perfect. There’s no focuser lock, but theredidn’t appear to be a need. At the factory settension, it easily held my heaviest eyepieces andaccessories as well as a buddies ST2000 CCDcamera with no sign of slippage. Focus travelis 93mm, and the drawtube is calibrated –another feature my astrophotographer buddiesraved over. A two speed focuser should beavailable shortly after this article is posted, butwasn’t available at the time of the review.An extended lookWhile the FLT-110 was a little to much for my Gibraltar, it rode quite nicely both on theDM-4 Tom Peters sent in for review (that one’s coming shortly folks), and an LXD75that seems to have somehow wandered into my garage. Giving the OTA a rap on theside, I found that dampening times on both mounts were similar (the DM-4 was slightlybetter) at around ½ to 1 second each. For visual use, this should give you an idea of whatclass of mount works well with this particular scope.While I’m a fan of unity finders, I found that Ididn’t bother with one while using the FLT-110.When mounted on the LXD75, the fast focalratio of the scope made it fairly easy to find thealignment stars, and I’ve always found the gototo be pretty much dead accurate. When on theDM-4, I found I simply spent lots of timescanning the night sky, and honestly, frequentlyfound I didn’t care if I got to where I was goingor not – this scope was just that much fun to scanwith. If I did get concerned, I just turned on theDSC’s. With a 40mm TV Widefield the 110yielded nearly a 4 deg true FOV. This wasenough to frame the Veil perfectly – and agorgeous sight it made from dark skies. At theGLSG, I setup next to a buddy with a 20”Obsession and we pointed these two at the veil.Both views were equally amazing – abet in different ways. Few scopes are capable ofdelivering larger TFOV’s at this aperture.3
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William Optics FLT-110 - Cloudy Nights

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